Plus Size Columnist at Marie Claire

It seems like the Glamour magazine belly roll incident is having a ripple effect on other publications with Marie Claire creating a new columnwithin its pages aimed specifically at plus size women. Stylist Ashley Falcon makes her debut in the November issue with a column introducing herself and her selection of the best jeans available for plus sizes.

This new column was brought to my attention from an article on The Frisky which was going well until I read the line,

I can’t help but think about her health.

Silence.

I can’t keep quiet any longer…

I’ve not really done any coverage on this ‘ere space about the fashion week season as I’ve been pretty busy although I have been regularly checking in with style.com and vogue.com to see what’s new on the runways. One show I was looking forward to seeing so that I could laugh and point was at Emanuel Ungaro with its newly appointed creative advisor- um… Lindsay Lohan at the helm.

When I first heard rumblings along these lines some months ago- I dismissed it as another internet rumour which would no doubt go the same way as all the other internet rumours that have been revealed to be utter nonsense. Then I started getting emails from fashion heavyweights like WWD, Vogue et al and I started to take notice. LINDSAY LOHAN?!?! In the words of Bethamint from a comment on Tuesday’s post-

“facepalm”

We all know that fashion is struggling at all levels of the market and people need to do what they can to stay afloat but LINDSAY LOHAN? at UNGARO?  I saw the show pics a few days ago and didn’t comment but the words in my head have been clawing away at my brain and the insides of my fingertips and I need to set them free. WHAT. THE. FUG?

I don’t even know where to start but my first thought about he whole thing is that its akin to giving a 17-year-old a brand spanking hand made Aston Martin to drive as soon as they take their first driving lesson. If you are going to be appointed advisor of anything at all then surely the position calls for the appointee to have a wealth of knowledge and experience in that area to bring to the role. The 6126 leggings label that Ms Lohan recently launched appears to be doing really well and Lindsay is forever in the news but is that enough to be handed the Aston Martin keys?I don’t blame Ungaro for wanting to align themselves with a celebrity in a bid to increase profits/ profile because everyone does it from H&M to Marc Jacobs- theres no shame in it, but for a luxury house to want to join forces with Ms Lohan has ruffled more than a few feathers including those of the designer at Ungaro, Esteban Cortazar who was fired for refusing to work with her. It could all backfire.

When I saw the first few pics in the collection I instantly thought of this lady….

….then my mind immediately jumped to this lady……

…..and I thought- eek! I like Dame Barbara Cartland and I liked Barbie as a kid, I just don’t think either of them should have been influencing this particular show. Oh- there was a good dose of this lady too…

 IMHO the collection was largely a hot mess. It made me cringe and I’m sitting at home looking at photos on the net. If I had been at the show itself I’d probably have slouched low in my seat with my notebook covering my face. If you’ve never seen an Ungaro show you only have to look through the archives to illustrate my point. Who is the collection supposed to be targeting? It wasn’t all bad. I liked the fuchsia and orange colour clash especially when combined in a paintbrush type print that was used throughout the show, and there was one red skirt I liked with a white heart print all over it but it was really more suited to Topshop than Ungaro. There were a few glimmers of potential but the styling was off. On the whole there were more misses than hits and the heart shaped nipple covers were straight up stripper.

Do I have a problem with celebrity fashion lines in general? Sometimes. The issue of whether you need a fashion design degree to be a designer and celebrity fashion collections in general has often been debated (eg: here and here) and I personally don’t think a design degree is absolutely necessary but it certainly helps a lot and actual industry experience is invaluable. Then again- how many of these celebrities are actually sitting in a design studio filling out specification sheets, and creating working drawings? How many have a clearcut vision of what they want the business to be how to go about developing it? How many just pay someone else to do the hard graft and put their name to the finished product? For some celebrities owning your own label is just another commodity like the multi million pound mansion or a driveway full of luxury cars and I don’t think everyone understands how much work is actually involved- it’s a business afterall, not a hobby and the average designer doesn’t sit around drawing pretty pictures and twirling hair round their fingers all day.

One celebrity who has surprised me with a sophisticated and credible collection is Victoria Beckham. I may have said this already on here so I might be repeating myself but when she got in on the fashion game I was mad. Seriously- I was. I rolled my eyes with DvB jeans but I was fit to burst when I heard about her plans to launch The Victoria Beckham Collection. However- I’ve been silenced. I haven’t got a single bad word to say about any of it. Her collections are well designed, wearable and cohesive. There has been no big flashy catwalk show, only small private showing to a select few buyers and journalists and she has pulled it off in fine style. Does she have a design degree? Nope. How involved is she in the design process itself? I couldn’t tell you. Should she go on to be the next creative advisor at a luxury label? NO!

Item of the Week 8/10/09

£30, Next. Sizes 6- 28

Theres something about…

…this colour combination that just makes me weak at the knees.

1. Tunic- £45 Evans

2. Belt- EUR 20,41 Carmakoma

3. Shades- EUR 94 Retrosuperfuture,

4. Shooties (grin!) £30 Ann Harvey,

5. Tunic- £40 Wallis

 

I love you fashion but…..

Foot Stamping and Tantrum Throwing at LFW-The Update

Its kinda old news now on the net but the dust is still settling on the Designer vs Stylist episode from LFW. Grazia magazine have this week run an interview with the stylist in question, Erika Kurihara, where she gives her side of the story. Apparently she didn’t storm out at the last minute over the designer’s decision to  use plus size models per se, she walked because she felt that the models chosen didn’t have the catwalk strut down pat. She feels that curvier models in general are more used to doing print work where they just stand and pose and don’t often get the chance to walk down a runway so don’t have the experience necessary to pull off a show. Her argument was that using larger models was going to be a bold statement so the execution would have to be pinpoint sharp so as not to discredit the show in any way. Kurihara says that even after coaching the three size 12/14 models had improved but were still not up to her standard so with two days till showtime she quit after a gentle nudge from Mark Fast who said he would prefer to work with a stylist who shared his enthusiasm.

I haven’t seen any footage from the show so I can’t comment on how well the plus size models walked compared to the other models but I understand her seasons for wanting to make the show perfect. HOWEVER- I feel that the statement being made with the inclusion of plus size models was bigger than the show itself and the stylist got caught up in “the show” and lost focus. I’m not saying that using bigger models should trump the quality of any show but I’m sure if the models’ walks were unacceptable they wouldn’t have been used, full stop. Any stylist has to consider their own integrity concerning any work they do and have to be happy with the results of anything they put their hand and name to but ultimately, the stylist isn’t the one calling she shots. If the designer is happy with the representation of his/ her work and is doing all in his power to iron out any kinks there may be then the stylist should be professional enough to see the project through to the end even if they don’t agree with all the decisions made by the person whose name it is above the catwalk.

Foot Stamping and Tantrum Throwing at LFW

Did you hear the one about the stylist who threw a mega-strop and resigned over a designer’s decision to use size 12 and 14 models in his show? Not a joke- actual fact.

London designer Mark Fast is known for creating highly covetable sculptured body con knitted dresses that cost an arm and a leg. His latest show for SS2010 featured three models of sizes 12 and 14 but the decision was not favoured by all and one stylist actually resigned over the decision. RESIGNED!! I’m still laughing now! He/ she must have been high on the smell of all that hairspray backstage and momentarily lost their grip on reality. The whole damn world is in recession, people are hanging on to their jobs like life jackets in a storm, and there’s one drama queen throwing a hissy fit and walking out over a size 12 model. It’s not your collection, just get on with it! Freelance work can be hard enough to get in the first place so once you secure a gig you want to be hanging onto it firmly I would have thought.

Thankfully someone else with a little more sense/ professionalism/ maturity stepped in and the show went on without a hitch. These fashion types I tell ya- an endless source of entertainment.

A Tale of Two Shoes

Brian Atwood @ Net a Porter

Evans (this shoe also available in black)

Spreading the Love

My first writing cameo! I was asked by the lovely Sarah from 100% People to write a guest blog post for their website and I happily obliged. Click here to have a read……..

Thanks 100% People!

Make Me Over

I have a confession to make- I’m a bit of a make up snob. I bow at the altar of MAC, Bobby Brown and Urban Decay and turn my nose up at Collection 2000, Rimmel and any other cheapo brand. Not because I have money burning a hole in my pocket but out of habit as once upon a time they had very little for me. As a teen the cheaper ranges rarely carried products that suited black skin and when they did everyone wore it- ie Black Cherry lipstick from Rimmel that I’m quite certain was worn at some stage by every black girl in my year at school. I could get lipstick from Sleek and Island Beauty but anything else was a struggle. Years later I discovered MAC and everything changed. I no longer had to scour every make up counter in Boots looking for just the right shade of eyeshadow, I could just make one stop at MAC to get everything I could possibly need and that has pretty much been the routine until last week.

While browsing the internets I found several great reviews about a range of mineral based eyeshadow palettes by Sleek (available at Superdrug) and thought I would go back to my make up- from- the- chemist roots and give them a whirl as at £4.49 it’s hardly breaking the bank if they all look terrible. The good thing is- they don’t.

There are three palettes in the i-Divine collection- Chaos which is quite brightly coloured matt shades, Storm which is a range of neutrals and Original which is what I bought.

My first impression was good. The palette looks stylish with its matt black case, is very slim and is around 14cm long. The mirror is a great size that is actually useable (so often with make up you get some titchy little thing that only allows you to see one eye at a time) and the colour intensity of the product is good. I doubt I would use all of them as I’m not so keen on the pinker tones but the others are all workable and I can already see this becoming my “go to” palette for evenings out. I say I would only use it for evenings out because the neutral shades are more sparkly than I would wear during the day, but I might try out the Storm palette for daytime looks. They go on smoothly and evenly and are not as super fine in texture as MAC, but at £4.49 for 12 colours against £10 per single colour at MAC I’m really not complaining, just making a comparison.

I tried out this palette at my posh do last week and surprisingly enough they lasted really well. I don’t use primers but the colour didn’t disappear into the creases halfway through the night. Really though, that event was a rather modest affair with no wild dancing til dawn so the test conditions weren’t as hot as they could have been. I will have to see how they perform on a more raucous night out where I’m getting jostled like a pinball, having lager splashed all over my clothes and getting my feet stepped on as though they’re part of the flooring.

Party like a rock star.